UPDATE 2-Two arrested over attempted arson attack at synagogue in London

British police said on Monday they had arrested two people over an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in north ‌London over the weekend, as counter-terrorism officers probe possible links between a series of recent attacks on Jewish targets and Iran.

A 17-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were taken into custody in connection with the incident, which occurred early on Sunday ‌morning, police said. The fire caused minor smoke damage to an internal room and no injuries were ‌reported. The attack on Kenton United Synagogue was the latest in a series of incidents targeting Jewish sites across the capital.

Since the October 2023 Hamas assault on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, attacks on Jewish targets in Britain have risen, according to police and ⁠community groups. UK ​security officials have warned ⁠that Iran has sought to use criminal proxies to carry out hostile activity in the UK, and the pro-Iranian group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya has ⁠claimed some of the latest attacks on social media.

DRONE PATROLS Matt Jukes, head of counter-terrorism at London police, said police had ​stepped up surveillance of Jewish areas.

"We've got drones, motorbikes, armed officers, taser-armed officers," he told LBC Radio. "It ⁠was one of those patrols that came across the incident in Kenton United Synagogue." The latest arrests follow an attempted arson attack on a business ⁠premises ​linked to the Jewish community on Friday and the arrest last week of two suspects over an attempted arson attack at another synagogue in the capital. Last month, several ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency service ⁠Hatzola were set alight while parked near a synagogue in the Golders Green area of north London. Police also ⁠briefly cordoned off an area ⁠near the Israeli embassy in London over the weekend following an online report that it had been targeted with drones carrying "dangerous substances". Officers later said items recovered did not ‌contain any harmful or ‌hazardous materials.